| | | | GOP set to face town hall backlash | | Congress is on recess this week, and attention is moving from Washington to the states, where Republican senators and representatives holding town halls and other events are expected to face intense protests against President Donald Trump and against their efforts to repeal Obamacare.
Trump tried to buy time for GOP lawmakers. At a rally with 9,000 supporters in Florida on Saturday, the President said he'd submit a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act in "a couple of weeks," buying Republicans the opportunity to duck specific questions on how they'd make sure no one loses coverage if the GOP repeals the law.
Helping progressives: As The New York Times' Jonathan Martin writes, with President Barack Obama out of office, "the debate over 'Obamacare' is becoming less about "Obama" and more about 'care' -- greatly complicating the issue for Republican lawmakers." Also, don't miss my looks at how progressives are preparing for this week and the role Hillary Clinton's former staffers are playing, and Robert Draper's deep dive into Obamacare's future for NYT's Magazine.
Where the action will be: Republicans in Clinton districts -- Rep. Leonard Lance of New Jersey on Wednesday night and Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona on Thursday -- will be particularly interesting town halls to watch. Meanwhile, the pro-Obamacare coalition Protect Our Care will take patients who have benefited from the law on a bus tour to events all week. Progressive groups are planning demonstrations targeting Nevada Sen. Dean Heller. And Planned Parenthood is organizing a major rally in Milwaukee, where patients from House Speaker Paul Ryan's district will be featured.
Also this week:
The developing Russia investigation: The Senate Intelligence Committee is asking more than a dozen agencies, organizations and individuals to preserve communications related to the panel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Democrats choose a new party leader. Eight remaining candidates for Democratic National Committee chairman -- with former Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison leading the pack -- will meet Wednesday night in Atlanta for a debate hosted by CNN. Then, the DNC's 447 voting members will decide Saturday who will be the new chairman. | | President Donald Trump's reference to "what's happening last night in Sweden" while discussing terror attacks Saturday in Florida raised questions, considering, well, there haven't been recent terror attacks in Sweden.
The Twittersphere's hunch: Trump's remarks were based on a segment he saw on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show the night before. | | | Trump confirmed it today: | | | One tough shot at Trump came from Sweden's former prime minister, Carl Bildt: | | | Chelsea Clinton got in a jab, too, comparing Trump's remark to Kellyanne Conway's reference to the nonexistent "Bowling Green massacre." | | Speaker Ryan takes a quiet border trip | | From the "Inside Politics" forecast by Rebecca Schatz: The House speaker is headed to the US-Mexico border this week. While Ryan's staff is keeping quiet on the details, the other members of Congress joining him on the trip aren't being so tight-lipped.
On "Inside Politics" this morning, CNN's Manu Raju shared some details from his sources on the Hill. "Congressman John Carter, of Texas, told reporters last week one of the reasons they are going down there is to look at what can and can't be done in terms of building the wall along the border with Mexico -- whether or not they can actually fulfill Donald Trump's main campaign promise," said Raju. "It comes, of course, as a number of Republicans and conservatives, in particular, are concerned about the price tag of this wall, upwards of $20 billion -- and demanding spending cuts to pay for the wall." | | "2017 is going to be the year of kicking Russia in the a** in Congress." -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, at a major foreign policy conference in Munich. | | | 4 things you might have missed this weekend | | 1. A tough Priebus interview: White House chief of staff Reince Priebus denied any contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials -- and complained that "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace was "going bananas" on him -- this morning.
2. World leaders eye Trump: From Munich, Ohio Gov. John Kasich told CNN's Jim Sciutto on "State of the Union" that world leaders are "just not sure" what to make of Trump.
3. Touring Dachau: Vice President Mike Pence today toured the spare gray prison yards in Dachau, Germany, where Jews and others assembled for daily roll call during the Holocaust.
4. No second stint for Jones: Retired Marine Corps Gen. Jim Jones, who was Obama's national security adviser, said Sunday he hasn't been asked to consider doing the job again under Trump. "No, I have not had any contact with the White House, and I think that I've had my turn in the barrel," Jones told Sciutto. | | | The Presidential Records Act and Trump's habit of occasionally deleting tweets could be at odds. ... Democrats are ready to see their race for DNC chairman end. ... NBC's Tom Brokaw opened up about the job offer he's glad he turned down: press secretary for Richard Nixon. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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